You’re Reading the Blog of a Future Hermit
Whilst doing my usual blog perusing, I came across some green blogs (I love reading green blogs to help expand my eco-consciousness) and I read an article that convinced me that I need to go off the grid, live in the woods, make everything myself and NEVER EVER buy another piece of plastic for the rest of my life because I am a horrible person who is responsible for the death and disfigurement of the marine life in all of the oceans. Read the article here. It’s 6 pages long, but once you start reading it, you won’t be able to stop (the picture of that turtle on the page 2!)
This is the original post that led me on my eco-trip today.
What really pisses me off is all the hubbub about recycling your plastic and not letting it go into a landfill only to find out that most plastics can’t be recycled anyhow. Not the way I thought, at least. I know that plastic is convenient and cheap, but at what cost? This is something that, at this point, is so huge that there’s no short or easy fix. It’s almost impossible to avoid buying plastic. It’s everywhere. But the thing that we NEED to remember is that small steps DO count. I see people get discouraged over pricing, and over being inconvenienced and feeling that a change is just too much. That’s bullshit and it’s a lazy cop-out. I’m sorry, but it is.
These blogs are written by everyday people who do what they can. They aren’t all doing extremes and their posts give insight into the small things you can do. If enough people do the small things, it starts to add up. So here, a list of eco-blogs, more specifically, non-plastic blogs. Don’t judge them before looking at them. This is something that I think about a lot. My son gets to inherit a mess left to him by the previous generations and I want him to be able to know how to address the mess in a knowledgeable and effective way. But seriously, I might be serious about the hermit thing. Off in a shack making my own jarred food and my own soap and eating fresh organic food grown in my own garden. My own Eden.
Here are a couple of little items that you can use forever that help to reduce plastic:
Reusable baggies (they replace Ziploc and the like and they are CUTE)
Glass Straw (I have a toddler, so straws are a huge thing in this house and you can keep one in your bag and use it instead of the plastic ones when you eat out!)
Aluminum Water Bottle (They sell these literally EVERYWHERE. They are affordable and easy to find.)
Tiffin Box (These are so awesome. You can use these for lunch, OR if you can talk the people into it, you can use it for takeout and you are minimizing a ton of waste! Also, If you go to a restaurant and need a box for your leftover food, instead of using those styrofoam containers, keep a tiffin with you and use it instead! They are used in India as an everyday lunch box. They have a bunch of compartments that fit together. COOL.)
Just at least have a look into this stuff. Like I said, every little bit DOES count and you want to do your part, right?
Aschlie said,
April 24, 2009 @ 1:17 pm
Ok…I was skeptical of this whole plastic thing…then I read the 6 page story. I am scared shitless now! Why aren’t these stories on the news? I watch the news for about 5 hours DAILY! Why haven’t I been informed of the plastic in the ocean problem??? They said 25% of the ocean is a never flushing toilet! There needs to be more pictures so people can see exactly what these ocean toilets look like! I’m seriously outraged that I had no idea plastic was so dangerous to reproduction and our bodies in general.
I learned a lot on this post. Now I’m paranoid to buy anything for Helen’s baby, LOL! Teething rings and toys with plastic is a no-no for sure!
I also looked at your alternative suggestions. I was equally surprised! The stuff is actually cheap! I was expecting something really expensive, but your suggestions were very affordable. I think you should get a tiffin box and put your smp food in it as a “leftover” suggestion. That way more people will see it.Since your getting more traffic on that site, advertise it! It’s a great inexpensive idea
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merrywifeofcanon said,
April 24, 2009 @ 1:26 pm
That’s why I love you, Aschlie. I actually have two tiffin boxes and I told Jessie last night about my idea to use them as leftover boxes at restaurants and stuff and he told me that I need to talk about it on SMP too. So I’ll probably be doing that tonight
And also, remember that the things I post on here are ideas that I intend to use for myself. I won’t try to tell you to buy something as an alternative unless I were also going to buy it. I follow my own advice.
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Aschlie said,
April 24, 2009 @ 1:39 pm
I figured you already had a tiffin box, but I thought if you didn’t you’d buy one soon, LOL…they are actually very stylish too! They’re a lot prettier to look at in the fridge than a styrafome (I know I just fucked that spelling up, LOL) box! Shelley and I have those boxes like 3 times a week!
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merrywifeofcanon said,
April 24, 2009 @ 1:47 pm
I’m going to talk about the tiffin boxes on SMP either tonight or tomorrow! I’ll show pictures and stuff so you can see how really cool they are.
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